Will low-carb make you grow taller?

Friday, August 10, 2012

This is my new research project. I did a little reading on a low-carb blog, can't remember which one, that talked about the correlation between low-carb high-fat eating in some people groups and greater average height. One example given was the Maasai. After watching this video of David Rudisha's world record run in the 800 meter yesterday and seeing his built all of what I read made sense. This amazing runner was running for his tribe and they honored him for it. www.nbcolympics.com/news-blogs/track-and-field/maasai-warrior-david-rudisha-ready-to-slay-another-lion.html?chrcontext=beyond-possibilities
My 15-year-old daughter is still fine-tuning her low-carb diet and I am curious if she will grow any more in height, which should help her swimming performance. I already can see that here energy level is increasing and her stroke technique in all disciplines is vastly improved after 4 short private lessons this week.
If anyone has any links or other info on this topic I would love to hear about it and discuss it here or on one of the low-carb or paleo groups.
I am reading the book by Volek and Phinney about "The Art of Low-Carbohydrate Performance". I love it so far and hopefully will blog about it very soon. <link>

There is no physiological rationale for a low carb diet increasing height. The Maasai height is the result of genetics in combination with greater than typical amounts of animal protein in comparison to other tribes, which would allow them to reach their true genetic potential more readily.

Well, I had a good laugh reading some of the comments. I really should have been a little more precise and said that I wonder if people who are not done growing because of their age will grow taller on a low-carb diet. It is very difficult to test this kind of thing and distinguish correlation and causation though.Egalitaire, your input is very valuable and it lines up with my own experience so far.MRSRACHEL, you raise an interesting point, about whether everyone would benefit from a low-carb diet. My husband is very low-weight and could gain a few pounds. I am really at a loss right now whether he might be able to gain weight on low-carb, not because of the number calories consumed but because of the quality of food. I hope we will find the answer to this question at some point.Concerning the baldness, I guess we haven't figured out how that is diet-related yet but who knows?

well I have read that low carb is more beneficial for people who are already taller and leaner by nature but I don't see how low carb dite could make you grow taller.

My understanding is people like myself who are short and athletically built need carbs more ( in the long run though, no one claims they don't help short term. ) than a taller smaller framed person. someone who is tall a bit heavy but still small boned also benefits from low carb diet but I don't believe its beneficial across the board. but then I'm no doctor Im just highly sceptically of anything that claims to be a one size fits all. Of course it also depends no how low your taking... most Americans eat far to many carbs so most could stand to reduce their carb intake by quite a bit.

This is an n=1 comment, but for me personally, the conversion to fat burning has had a significant impact on my riding - both in the distances I can ride without tiring and in the speed - I ride at a consistently much faster speed this year than I have in the past.

Great article, and blog. Longer distance athletes do better on fat/ protein, than on carbs. I see bike riders, and runners eating every 10-15 minutes during competition, and think that has to mess up their digestion. Personally, I feel great when sticking to low carb, and have much more energy.